Sustainable Development Diplomacy and Governance (SDDG) Program

Negotiations over global and transboundary issues for the most part are locked into traditional models of diplomacy. Pioneering a new diplomacy of environment and resource policy will require new approaches.

CIERP's Sustainable Development Diplomacy and Governance (SDDG) Program focuses on identifying means to address an ever expanding set of global issues arising from the unsustainable practices that are overwhelming the capacity of traditional diplomacy. Through the Sustainable Development Diplomacy course, student research is focused on the underlying causes rather than the symptoms that are addressed by much of the current treaty system. Utilizing principles from mutual gains negotiations, we reframe climate change, biodiversity, forest, and fisheries issues in terms of opportunities for sustainable development. Our work also reveals the need to engage multiple actors across diverse issues to effect sustainable natural resource governance.